Yes, the pace does seem quite rapid, now, compared to the usual delay in processing data and publishing the results of scientific research. Prof. Mendez has spoken about his desire to resolve this mystery promptly.

Prof. Mendez writes that an announcement of the full explanation for the Ross 128 signal will be made tomorrow, Friday, July 21st. One wonders how full an explanation will be possible.

Prof. Mendez has already stated that his immediate goal was to use the new data to decide between Earthly interference, and a novel phenomenon at stellar distance. Perhaps it is this binary decision, to which he refers. He couldn't be expected to have a full explanation of the details of a just-discovered astronomical phenomenon.

In any case, we should know more about this matter by sometime tomorrow.

This sounds like less than a 'full explanation' or a 'conclusion', both of which were promised for today's announcement. If they're still checking out the signals, it's merely a hypothesis awaiting confirmation.

So it's another damp squib. As I keep saying there are too many people ou there that want this stuff to be true so they are grabbing at straws. And in any case if that had been a genuine signal the national security would have clamped down on it, the public would never have been told as much as they have been.

The SETI Institute still seems interested in Ross 128, despite the supposed explanation of the signal. They are currently scrutinizing that star, also know as GJ 447, HIP 57548, and FI Virginis, on a variety of frequencies between 4 and 5 GigaHertz. They have been doing so since at least 1 p.m., when I looked in and noticed this. Their work can be viewed at:http://www.setiquest.info

The public still get confused and think that the Seti Institute is somehow the same as us. Of course we talk to them and they to us but we are two distinct projects looking basically for the same thing.

The Institute owns the the 42 dish Allen Telescope Array, located at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory, in Mountain View California which they have used since 2007. Whereas Seti@home piggybacks on data from Arecibo since 1999 and latterly the GBT telescope.

I have to say that their website masthead statement of "Welcome to the world's foremost search for extraterrestrial intelligence" irks me a little. We have been going longer than them and what about Break Through Listen, a $100 million project? The Institute website said

"The funding announced today does not go to the SETI Institute, but we are working with the Breakthrough Prize Foundation on other projects. The SETI Institute congratulates our colleagues and looks forward to joining them as additional Breakthrough Prize Foundation projects are rolled out".

So they are hoping for a slice o f the pie later :-) Although to be fair, it is not clear whether S&H will get any money from it either. Seti@ Home is the only DC project of its kind in the world and we should be rightly proud of what Eric and the team have achieved, but there is much more yet to do. Hopefully Nebula will show the way. .

I think ATA is in Shasta County, in Northern California, away from radio emissions, like GBT.
Tullio

Well I am a bit confused myself. Hat Creek is certainly in Shasta County; we were there in 2005 and saw the radio telescopes, but that was before ATA was going. I think it was run by the University of Southern California then. They were doing more conventional radio astronomy then. Then, Mr. Allen bought (or leased) the site, and planned to build a new array, or maybe convert the existing one for SETI work.

But he at one point also announced plans to build the ATA in another location further south, probably in Mountain View. I think maybe funding or technical problems prevented those plans being implemented. At any rate, here it is.https://www.seti.org/ata

I believe the Allen Array was partially built and then operated for a period of time which ended due to funding problems.
This was from the SETI institute also at CAL Berkley run by Seth Shostak. I don't know if it ever started up again. Maybe others have more current information ?

Who is then getting the 100 million?

It looks like there will be a proliferation of SETI endeavors emerging and/or expanding over the next few years. I think it would be better to concentrate these all into one effort as far as personnel, equipment and funding is concerned. The emphasis should be on space-based or moon based telescopes at optical, microwave and visual frequencies.

It might be conceivable to send a probe/explorer to the Alpha Centauri region if a significant advance in propulsion can be made. All we need is a sustained 1g push on a perhaps a mass of 1000 kilograms.

To reiterate my past rants. I think that we as a civilization need to concentrate on a proper space station, Moon base and then a manned trip to Mars (with return) I don't know if the cosmic ray problem can be solved for manned space travel.

There is no dearth of big radiotelescopes coming in action, like ALMA in Chile, FAST in China and the MerKat array in South Africa. But how many of them are interested in SETI search? That is the question.
Tullio

The SETI Institute still seems interested in Ross 128, despite the supposed explanation of the signal. They are currently scrutinizing that star, also know as GJ 447, HIP 57548, and FI Virginis, on a variety of frequencies between 4 and 5 GigaHertz. They have been doing so since at least 1 p.m., when I looked in and noticed this. Their work can be viewed at:http://www.setiquest.info

There is no dearth of big radiotelescopes coming in action, like ALMA in Chile, FAST in China and the MerKat array in South Africa. But how many of them are interested in SETI search? That is the question.
Tullio

None of them really have the sensitivity to do the job of detecting signals from alien civilizations. They are all directed to much greater energy outputs of exploding stars, pulsars, gas clouds, etc.

If you want to detect artificial signals from a distance of 1000 light years (my estimate for the minimum to give you any hope of finding anything), then you will need large radiotelescopes in space, away from earthly interference. And by "large" I mean several kilometers across. It won't happen during our lifetimes. SETI is all very interesting, but the numbers just don't add up for now.

Ok folks apology time for confusing you. Mountain view may have been where it was once proposed to be, but that is not where the ATA is now. It is located 290 miles (470 km) northeast of San Francisco, California. The official address is

Hat Creek Radio Observatory
42231 Bidwell Road
Hat Creek, CA 96040

Mountain view is again close to San Francisco Bay but to the South and is better known as Silicon Valley

I think that we as a civilization need to concentrate on a proper space station, Moon base and then a manned trip to Mars (with return)

I agree with you in principle. We just about have the technology to build Moonbase 1 now using the ISS as a staging post. And provided we can develop a reliable shuttle from moon orbit to the surface. It seems sensible to me to get experience of living on another celestial body before branching out further to the planets.

As for a "proper" space station I assume you're talking something like Deep Space 9. It took all of mankinds abilities to build the ISS, we just don't have the technical knowledge or skillsa to build anything substantially bigger. And a proper space station would need to spin to produce artificial gravity, something that has never been done before. Drax managed it in Moonraker, but that was 007.